Should I Learn To Drive A Motorcycle Before Driving A Car?
There are some people who staunchly believe that learning how to drive a motorcycle is necessary preparation for learning how to drive a car. Whilst not all experts agree, there are some who believe that it could increase road awareness. At the very least, it would help future drivers to predict and prevent motorcycle related accidents on the road.
When it comes to bikes and motorcycles, drivers are notoriously stubborn. If you’ve ever heard a car owner complain about the fact that cyclists are allowed to use bus lanes, you’ll know what this looks like. They’re famously very unsympathetic towards motorcyclists – they forget to watch out for them and then blame them for crashes and collisions. This, in turn, causes insurance premiums to soar. For more information and advice on your first car insurance policy, visit DirectAsia.com. According to UKNetGuide.co.uk journalist Andrew Stelling, this issue is much more concerned with motorcycle awareness than driving skill. Motorcycles aren’t really any easier to operate than cars. In fact, they may even be a little bit more difficult. Yet, they do allow a user to get a real feel for the road and the objects around him. Not being enclosed in a car, a motorcyclist has to be a lot more aware of his environment. On the other hand, there are bound to be a lot of people who can’t see why riding a motorcycle has any effect on learning how to drive a car. These people are likely to point to the number of fatalities that come hand in hand with motorcycle use. It’s true that this statistic is quite high, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that motorcyclists are worse drivers, says MSN.com expert Linda Lowen. All that it means is that injuries tend to be a lot more severe in a motorcycle collision – and why is this? Well, it’s because most motorcyclists collide with cars whose drivers aren’t looking out for them. They forget to check their mirrors, they don’t pay attention, or they ignore the presence of a motorcyclist altogether. It is this curious arrogance that results in so many serious accidents, say the experts at TheArtOfManliness.com. There’s something about being in a car that no test can prepare you for. After a while, drivers tend to lose that initial nervousness, those initial good manners. They stop checking their mirrors and no longer pay attention to speed limits. It’s something that most drivers do and it’s a result of the new found knowledge that there’s nobody there to monitor you anymore. This knowledge can cause drivers to become very desensitised. They sit in their metal bubbles, with their music and their reclining seats, and they lose that awareness of what’s around them. Whereas a motorcyclist can’t ever really drive in the same manner – there is too much at stake on a high speed bike. After all, if you come off that bike, you might not ever get back on again. There are no airbags in place to protect a rider. There is no protective cage of metal surrounding him. If he falls off his bike at high speed, it is his body that will make contact with another car. In some ways then, it does make sense to ride a motorcycle before you learn how to drive a car. It can teach you how to heighten your awareness of the road, how to keep an eye out for the other people around you. It can teach you how to be a more considerate driver, which is something that we could all use. That being said, motorcycle based learning certainly isn’t the only way to teach drivers a little compassion.
Author Bio: Beth Lacey is a driving instructor and a motorcycle enthusiast. For more information and advice on getting your first car insurance policy. She believes that all drivers should be given some form of motorcycle awareness training.
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